Why do my corals not look like in pictures

[Camaro Show Corals]

Okay so why do these two corals of mine not look like in the pictures, is it just lighting? I have a hydro galaxy 165w led and a ecotech mp10 for flow but they never have looked like in the pictures. How can I get them to look like that. The pictures arnt the best I’ve had the dayglo for 3 months and has barley grown and then defcon from the last wwc live sale.

 

[themcfreak]

What are your water parameters? There are 400 million things that could be affecting growth, polyp extension, etc.

 

[dylana407]

Call WWC, they will help you out.

 

[hijinks7]

corals can change colors depending on your water based on the tank they came from, location in the tank from the light and the light itself.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I keep my water pretty clean
Alk 11
Cal 440
Mag 1360
Nitrate 3
Phosphate .4 I’ve been trying to get it down to .3 but nothing is working
Established 4 year old biocube
Santa Monica .6 algae scrubber
Coral life skimmer
Light schedule is 4 hours of blue in the morning then 4 hours of blue and white then 2 hours of blue again and then 2 hours of actinic.
Using the Red Sea coral pro salt
And 2 fish currently a long nose hawkfish and a orange spotted goby.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I had them on the bottom rocks and just moved them up a little bit yesterday

 

[hijinks7]

I had them on the bottom rocks and just moved them up a little bit yesterday

It can also be they feed them or certain trace elements are lacking in your tank that are there in the vendor.

I know a few vendors that hate WYSIWYG sections because people complain so much the color isn't the same in their tank and they need to spend 30 minutes explaining why it could be different.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I feed zoo plankton, and use the polyplab booster and every once and a while some nls nutracell and I also run gfo

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I do a 5 gallon water change every week, I’m switching to the Red Sea blue bucket to lower my alk to see if that helps, I was trying the elevated levels but I don’t think I have enough bioload to do that so I’m going to the blue bucket. I feed the fish 4 times a week lightly and feed the corals 2 times a week the days I don’t feed the fish

 

[ksfulk]

If I were to guess, it would be that your tank isnt stable. You've listed a half dozen things that have changed in your tank in the last few months - pick something and just do that. Dont change your lights, salt, flow, pump, additives, placement, alkalinity, sand, rock, livestock, etc... It takes time for some corals to settle in, particularily in a new-ish tank. A week or three isnt long enough to see anything monumental - if you dont believe me, take a look at the grow-out contest threads. There are people who've had the same corals for 6+ months and are just starting to see growth, when all of the rest of there tank is going crazy.

If you have reason to believe there's something thats preventing your corals from growing beyond that, have an ICP test done, make sure you dont have some unknown contaminent in the water. Pick a nutrient and alk level and test frequently and regularily until there's very little swing over the course of the day/week. Stability will help.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I feel my tank is very stable I keep my alk and calc very stable and dose 2 part everyday and have a steady waterchange schedule. This is the first time I’m changing salt most upgrades were when I first got the tank and now everything is going smooth with everything else. But thank you I might do a icp test

 

[ca1ore]

It could be any of the things already noted. But mostly it's because many of the photos you see are 'fakes'. Maybe not photshopped, but certainly lit and photographed (oversaturated) in a way to accentuate appearance. I have seen many tanks in person that looked nothing like their photos.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Some of my things wind up very close to the wysiwyg color right away and some never seem to get there. I try not to stress too much myself. Step one is keeping them alive, once that's done you can work on coloring. FWIW I've seen plenty of folks suggest that new growth is where you get most of the good color after transplanting and anecdotally I've seen that. I'm an SPS noob, so take this with a grain of salt but I'd get your alk stabilized around the blue bucket levels and see how it goes. If they are growing and still not coloring up then maybe look at lighting.

The chalices and stylos/birdnests I picked up from WWC look pretty darn close to the sale pics. My acros aren't quite there yet but I'm not giving them enough light as I'm paranoid about bleaching. They are slowly getting there though.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I’m the same way my acros and chalices look like the pictures but not these 2. Do you think if I switched to radions I would notice any difference?

 

[OriginalUserName]

It might just be adjusting or maybe try a different spot?

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

That’s what I did a few days ago I moved them up to see if a little more par did anything

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Do you think more nutrients could help?

 

[happyhourhero]

All of my WWC pieces have come in looking just like the photos but understand they use a professional photo setup and heavy blues.

Any cyphastrea I have added usually nearly die completely and then regrow and are super hardy. I don’t know what the deal is with those but that’s how it has been for me.

 

[happyhourhero]

I would shoot for alk around 8. I think you will find better results there. Go very, very slowly.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

So my blue bucket comes in today how should I lower my alk I plan on doing 2 waterchanges a week